Role of Information and Communication Technology - Essay Example

April 29, 2009 Role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Knowledge Management (KM) The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) department in any organization is expected to provide ICT services, infrastructure and facilities. The scope of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) encompasses creation, organization, management and communication of information. Knowledge Management goes a step further. It crosses the domain of information into the domain of knowledge. Of crucial interest here is the role that ICT has to play in the management of knowledge. Is Knowledge Management entirely out of the scope or reach of ICT? Does ICT stop with information handling only? Or is Knowledge Management just another term for Information Management that is almost the exclusive work area of ICT? The first step in trying to find an answer in this regard is to acquire a clear understanding of the difference between information and knowledge. In other words, knowledge, its properties and its qualities, has to be defined in very clear and comprehensible terms. The definition of knowledge is based on the sequential definitions of data and information (Barnes, 2001). Data, is defined as observations of facts outside any context; data within a meaningful context is information; and ‘information plus’ or information combined with experience, context, interpretation, and reflection within a very highly contextual environment is termed as knowledge. The high-value form of information that is ready for application to decisions and actions within organizations is e termed as Knowledge (Davenport, 1998). It is therefore a type of value-added information. A further distinction is made between two categories of knowledge – tacit or implicit and explicit knowledge. Tacit Knowledge is defined as the type of knowledge that is both understood and applied at the subconscious level. It is knowledge difficult to deliberately express, manifest or articulate, and said to be developed, again subconsciously or involuntarily, through personal interactions, conversations, storytelling and shared experience. Explicit knowledge, on the other hand “is more precisely and formally articulated, although removed from the original context of creation or use...” (Zach, 1999). Barnes (2001) defines Knowledge Management as an attempt to improve or maximize the use of knowledge that exists in an organization. Knowledge Management has assumed crucial significance for all business organizations that seek to utilize its own experience and that of others to retain a decisive competitive edge over other players in the market. There is however an area of ambiguity in the relationship between Knowledge Management and ICT. How does one handle, process or manipulate tacit knowledge that exists only at the subconscious level? Tacit knowledge would not be amenable to ICT tools and would therefore be entirely out of the domain of ICT. Explicit knowledge could however be processed or handled by ICT, and would therefore be the concern of ICT professionals. Seen in this context, tacit knowledge management would be more in the field of expertise of human resources management than in the scope of the ICT professionals; and it would be only explicit knowledge processing and dissemination that would be the concern of the IT professional. There are however staunch opponents of the concept of Knowledge Management who question the very existence of such a field or domain. Wilson (2002) is of the firm opinion that Knowledge Management as it is being applied today, is nothing more than a management fad and at best a theoretical utopian ideal. He defines knowledge as something that goes on exclusively inside the mind. Knowledge is what we know, it involves the mental processes of comprehension, understanding and learning. The problem, according to Wilson (2002), is that we actually do not have control over what we know. We do not know what we know. What we know is expressed only when we employ the knowledge to accomplish something. What the human mind learns is apparently forgotten only to emerge when needed or even when not needed. What we know can be expressed only in the form of messages conveyed orally, in writings, and through gestures, graphics or even body language. Such messages are however not knowledge but information which another knowing mind can assimilate, understand, comprehend and incorporate into its own knowledge structures. Since each person’s knowledge structures are ‘biographically determined’ (Schutz,1967), they cannot be identical for the conveyor and the receiver. This essentially implies that the same information, even if it results in knowledge, will be different knowledge for different individuals. Wilson (2002) asserts that “everything outside the mind that can be manipulated in any way, can be defined as data, if it consists of simple facts; or as information, if the data are embedded in a context of relevance to the recipient. Collections of messages, composed in various ways, may be considered as information resources of various kinds - collections of papers in a journal, e-mail messages in an electronic folder, manuscript letters in an archive, or whatever. Generally, these are regarded as information resources. Thus, data and information may be managed, and information resources may be managed, but knowledge (i.e., what we know) can never be managed, except by the individual knower and, even then, only imperfectly.” Wilson’s line of argument puts knowledge management entirely out of the realm of Information Technology. If we have not been able to comprehend the mechanism of the human mind, there is no question of trying to digitize, quantify, manipulate or process knowledge which represents the human mind itself through the application of ICT. Where ICT matters ICT is however concerned with data and information, and without data and information there can be no knowledge. Sveiby (2001) states that Knowledge Management comprises of two functional aspects: the Technology Aspect and the Management of People Aspect. He terms them as the ‘IT (Information Technology) Track’ and the ‘People Track’ respectively. While the IT Track deals with the data and information-related factors and is primarily handled by the Information Technology people usually headed by the ICT manager; the ‘People Track’ of Knowledge Management falls outside the domain of IT, and according to Lesser & Storck (2001), is largely a concern of human resources management or people management. The ‘People Track’ of Knowledge Management concentrates of sharing of knowledge by building up what are known as ‘Communities of Practice’. Put very simply, a Community of Practice is a group of people who share similar goals and interests. They employ common practices, work with the same tools and express themselves in a shared vocabulary (Wenger, 1998). This paper however refers to the organizational Community of Practice which is defined by Gongla & Rizutto (2001) as “knowledge networks, referred to as institutionalized, informal networks of professionals managing domains of knowledge (organizational)”. Communities of Practice are instrumental in fostering knowledge development and creative interactions among members. They are a key element in the learning organization. This paper postulates that the concern of the ICT professional with respect to knowledge management is the handling, manipulation, processing and communication of the information that is in turn processed and assimilated by the human mind to generate knowledge. In other words, the ICT professional should know all that is related with the ICT aspect or the Information aspect of Knowledge Management. The ‘People Track’ or the people aspect of Knowledge Management falls outside the domain of the ICT professional. It is largely a concern of human resource management or people management where the focus would be on knowledge sharing by building ‘Communities of Practice’ (Lesser & Storck, 2001) in organizations. Implementation of Knowledge Management for the ICT personnel would imply implementation of information systems that would foster knowledge in the organization and not implementation of Knowledge Management per se. Such implementation best practices would require the usual approaches based on the strategy, planning and execution. According to Zach (1999), ICT’s role in any knowledge management initiative would be to capture the tacit knowledge as well as the information component of knowledge. This could be done by linking digitized objects that corresponds to knowledge units by defining, storing, categorizing and indexing them. ICT could develop appropriate storage and querying application software to search for and subscribe to relevant content. It would also fall within the domain of ICT to to categorize and present content flexible enough to be rendered meaningful and applicable across multiple contexts of use. In order to achieve the above ICT has a wide range of technologies in its kitty. Setting up an Intranet to support exchange and access of information within an organization and between it and its close allies such as customers and suppliers could help the cause of knowledge development and management by providing the required inputs at the required points if access. Data Warehousing services could enable the storage and availability of knowledge in various degrees of context. Coupled with data mining, the ICT systems could provide added impetus to knowledge management. Decision support systems adds value to information depending on the decisions that are to me made. Communities of Practice could benefit hugely if ICT if ICT provides groupware support for free and sppedy exchange of ideas and practices. This would enable discussion among participants. With advanced communication systems such as Video Conferencing live exchange of information would be possible between two geographically dispersed and remote locations. Even simple applications such as email and chatting brings about the contact and interactive that could provide a boost to knowledge management in any organization. ICT therefore becomes imperative for knowledge management. Conclusion Thus when we cross the frontiers of ICT into the realms of Knowledge Management (KM), the focus is not only on information which can be manipulated by computers and their peripherals but on knowledge which transcends even the awesome capabilities of the modern computer. It is in the domain of Knowledge Management that inherent human and machine capabilities have to act in perfect synergy and complement each other to the maximum to derive desired results. References -01 1. Barnes, P., C., 2001, A Primer on Knowledge Management, [Online] Available. http://www.accaglobal.com/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/2001/18/57627 [April 26, 2009] 2. Davenport, T., H., et al, 1998, Successful knowledge management projects, Sloane Management Review. In P., C., Barnes, 2001, A Primer on Knowledge Management, [Online] Available. http://www.accaglobal.com/students/publications/student_accountant/archive/2001/18/57627 [April 26, 2009] 3. Gongla, P. Rizutto, C., R., 2001, Evolving Communities of Practice: IBM global services experiences, IBM systems journal (40) 4: 842-862. 4. Lesser, E.L. & Storck, J., 2001, Communities of practice and organizational performance. IBM Systems Journal, 40(4), 831-841 [Online] Available at http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/404/lesser.html [April 26, 2009] 5. Schutz, A., 1967, The phenomenology of the social world. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. 6. Sveiby, K., E., 2001, What is knowledge management? Brisbane: Sveiby Knowledge Associates. [Online] Available at: http://www.sveiby.com/faq.html#Whatis [April 26, 2009] 7. Wenger, E., 1998, Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System. [Online] Available. http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml [April 26, 2009] 8. Wilson, T., D., 2006, The nonsense of knowledge management. Information Research, Vol. 8 No. 1. [Online] Available. http://informationr.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html [April 26, 2009] 9. Zach, M.H., 1999, Managing codified knowledge, Sloan Management Review. In P., C., Barnes, 2001, A Primer on Knowledge Management, [Online] Available. http://www.accaglobal.com/students/publications/student_accountant/archive 2001/18/57627 [April 26, 2009] Read More